Meet Creole and Gumbo

June 9th, 2008

This video is a clip from my friends at Creole and Gumbo blog (listed atop the blogroll on the right). This is Creole and Gumbo’s first weekend together, a delightful video.

Now, just because these parti-colored poodles are intriguing to me, thought I’d post a video of them so you can see what they look like. I did a little research, and found PartiInfo, which informs that while the original sporting (and truffle-hunting) poodles were generally two-toned, the AKC and BKC decided sometime around the turn of the 20th century to limit show participation to solid color poodles only.

Still, parti colored poodles are registered by the AKC, and according to The Parti Poodle now sports champion show dogs with the Multi-Color Poodle Club of America in conjunction with the United Kennel Club. Go to this page and view the photos of these amazingly beautiful dogs! I’m thinking I might just have to have one…

Parti Poodle History shows the many paintings of early poodles. The striking similarity in markings with spaniels will make you do a double take!

This video is Jazmin’s Parti Poodles playing - poetry in motion!

Filed under Poodle Love, Poodle Personality, Poodle Videos, Poodles, Show Poodles, Sporting | Comment (0)

Shaving The Poodle

June 3rd, 2008

Grooming Therapy for Poodle-Lovers

In this family of poodle-lovers the issue of grooming has always been a struggle of time versus money. Sometimes we’ve got enough to take the dog to a pro groomer and pay for the service, at other times we’ve been broke and end up having to do it ourselves. When we moved to the mountains - and our poods became “Giant Mutant Mountain Poodles,” grooming became a 100% in-house job. We purchased a couple of pairs of good electric grooming shavers and many blades, a blade sharpener system that never really worked well, and some attachable combs so we could regulate the length of hair being cut.

The combs never really worked either. So the twice-yearly operation became one of simply “shaving the poodle,” and our daughter took on the job as therapy for her emotionally stressful life. She’d tell her friends at work and on the softball team, as well as her then-current boyfriend, that she’d be unavailable for the weekend. She’d set up in a nice shady part of the yard with her comb and brush and shears on a blanket, and get to work.

She got pretty good at it, too. In the spring and again in the fall she’d shave the poodle down to practically nothing, trim the puffs on the tail and head and ears with scissors, clean out and disinfect ears, trim toenails and hair in between the toes. The poodle would be good for about 6 months (when the dreadlocks again had to be dealt with).

Here’s a cool poodle-grooming video that should help any poodle-lover out there thinking about shaving his/her own poodle for a change! Enjoy, and don’t forget that poodles do have particular issues with their feet and ears that require extra attention…

Filed under Grooming, Health, Poodle Hair, Poodle Love, Poodle Skills, Poodle Videos, Poodles | Comment (0)